THE evidence came in the form of bank statements showing that a developer lodged payments into a politician's account.

Fred Forsey never denied receiving money from a wealthy developer whom he knew "to salute" in the pub. But the question the jury had to decide on was if these were corrupt payments in return for political favours when Forsey was a Fine Gael deputy mayor of Dungarvan.

Forsey knew very little about the developer, except that he was "worth hundreds of millions", owned a helicopter, had an interest in horses and was well-respected.

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